“So, things didn’t work out with Wetshower yesterday?” Applejack asked, looking at the peeved redhead across the table.

“It’s Wallflower.” Sunset groaned, stabbing her muffin with a fork. “And I don’t know.”

“Well, what exactly happened, darling?”

Sunset buried half of the fork inside the pastry. “Right when I thought we were… she just pretended that I wasn’t part of it.”

“Part of what, exactly?” Twilight questioned.

“I don’t know anymore!” Sunset brought the muffing to her mouth and took an angry bite out of it. “And I don’t know why I’m so angry about it.”

Rainbow shrugged, “I say it’s her loss then. You’ll find someone else.”

“But I don’t-!” Sunset stopped herself for a moment. “I don’t want to give up yet.” She turned her eyes towards Fluttershy, the one she thought would understand Wallflower the best. “What do you think?”

“Uhm… I...” the shy girl stammered, really wanting to help but not knowing how. “You should talk about it with her. See why she did what she did.”

Sunset sighed, giving up on her lunch. “I guess I’ll go see her when the other club members leave.”

Pinkie scrunched up her face. “That doesn’t feel right. You-”

“Can I sit here?”

The six girls turned their heads towards the origin of the voice, and Susnet’s eyes widened.

Wallflower was standing next to the table, a blue tupperware filled with salad held between her hands.

“Of course!” Sunset exclaimed, pushing Twilight aside in a not very gentle manner to make space for the green girl.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. What’s your name?” Rainbow asked, curious about why Sunset had reacted like that.

“I’m Wallflower Blush,” she presented herself, avoiding all eye contact except for Sunset’s. “You probably haven’t seen me because I normally eat in the garden.”

“Wait, aren’t you the girl that had the Memory Stone?” Twilight asked.

“Y-yes, that was me… you were there...” Wallflower’s hands were sweating, and she was having trouble resisting the urge to just run away, but then she felt Sunset’s hand on her shoulder, calming some of her nerves as she remembered why she was doing this.

“She’s also the girl I talked to you about,” Sunset clarified, and it took a few seconds for the other five girls to catch up.

“Well, that’s all in the past, darling. You’re welcomed at our table.”

Wallflower smiled, even when Sunset’s hand left her shoulder. “Thank you.”

Everyone resumed their lunch, keeping a casual silence as the new girl acclimated to everyone’s presence. Rainbow was about to be the first to ask Wallflower something, but a glare from Sunset discouraged her.

“Why am I being so protective? Wasn’t I angry at her a few seconds ago?” Sunset wondered, confused about her own feelings.

Her moment of ponder was capitalized by Rarity. “Tell me, darling, how’s the gardening club? I heard it doubled its members.”

Wallflower smiled, happy that at least her garden wasn’t being forgotten. “It’s doing great, all the extra hands are appreciated, and everyone seems to be having a good time tending to the flowers and plants. Muffins proposed asking Luna permission to cut some of the trees and expand the garden a bit further so we can plant-” Wallflower stopped herself, realizing she was talking nonsense. “Sorry, I-”

“Why sorry?” Rarity questioned. “Please, continue.”

“It’s just boring stuff,” Wallflower said, staring intently at her salad.

“Not when you tell it like that,” Pinkie objected.

Wallflower looked at the pink girl with confusion. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow chuckled. “You were talking just like how Applejack talks about apples for half an hour.”

“¡Hey!” the farmer protested.

Rainbow laughed at the response. “We also spend hours hearing Rarity talk about fashion, or Pinkie about cakes and parties, or Twilight about how McDonkeys’ hamburgers shorten your lifespan. We all have some boring hobbies, except me, but we hear about them anyway because we care about what we do.” She pointed at the farmer. “By the way, if you want to fell some trees, Applejack knows how to do it.”

Wallflower fiddled with her fingers. “Well, having someone with experience could make it easier to convince Luna. If it isn’t a problem.”

“Not at all sugarcube. Just give me a date and I’ll bring some rope and tools. Did you guys have a plan?”

“Well...” Wallflower searched for a way to explain it, and Pinkie offered pen and paper.

As the gardener drew the plans for Applejack and continued chatting with the other girls, Sunset watched her with a smile, feeling a weird sense of pride at how Wallflower was getting comfortable with her friends. She was surprised by how much she could talk about gardening, realizing she had barely scratched the surface of who Wallflower really is.
“But I certainly want to find out.”

“Sunset?” asked Wallflower, getting her attention. “About yesterday…”

“It’s okay,” Sunset assured her with a smile. “You can explain it to me later.”

Wallflower returned the smile with one of her own. “That’s what I was going to ask you. Can you come to the garden tomorrow? Before the rest of the club members arrive.”

Sunset was, again, surprised by the girl’s actions. She expected a simple exchange of apologies before everything went back to normal, but it looked like she had some plan brewing. “Okay, I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Thank you. Goodbye!” Wallflower took her empty tupperware and left the table, skipping to the exit.

Once she was alone, she leaned against the wall, letting out a long tired sigh. “That was exhausting!” she thought, but she reminded herself why she had done it. “I hope everything goes well tomorrow.”

When Sunset arrived at the garden, she found Wallflower in a similar situation to when she discovered her feelings, but she wasn’t asleep this time. “Are you meditating?”

Wallflower opened her eyes. “Yes, it’s an old habit I’m trying to pick up again.” She shimmied to the side to give her space to sit. “How’s your day?”

Sunset chuckled and sat down next to her.“Good, wondering what you were planning for today.”

Wallflower took a deep breath before looking at her in the eyes. “I’m sorry about pushing you away when my friends came back.” Sunset was about to say something, but she suddenly grabbed her hand, making her stop. “I never expected things to become like this. You could probably tell from the beginning, but once we started hanging out, and just...” She chuckled. “Enjoying it, I barely realized how much time had passed. And when I saw Muffins and the others, it felt like the moment before a dream ends.” She let go of Sunset’s hand, now sure that she was truly listening. “When I pushed you away... I did it out of selfishness.”

Sunset was confused. “What do you mean?”

“I wanted to keep it between us. Our secrets and quirks and all of those things that… that made me...” Wallflower stammered, her cheeks tinting pink.

Sunset shook her head. “But we don’t have to make it public. We all have secrets or embarrassing things that we only share with friends.”

Wallflower smiled. “Yes, but one of those things was you. What we had here. What all those secrets and quirks allowed me to see.” She turned her head, looking at the growing flowers she had planted for Sunset. “You… made a change in me. A change I just...”

Sunset remembered her talk with Rarity. “Didn’t think was possible, even if logically it should?”

“Yes...” Wallflower’s eyes met Sunset’s again. “And after pushing you away and realizing I would have regretted it all my life if you never came back, I understood that... if I wanted to keep all that… I...” Wallflower started stammering. Even after repeating the words in her head many times before this moment, her voice refused to say it. So she went for her back up plan.

She reached behind the stone bench and pulled out a potted Honeysuckle, looking at its colorful petals for comfort. “You know… flowers have meanings behind them… and this-” She raised her head, and noticed that Sunset wasn’t listening anymore.

Her pupils were almost fully dilated, focused on the flower in her hands.
She suddenly lurched forwards, trying to bite the plant, but Wallflower moved it out of reach.

Sunset snorted angrily, pawing the stone with her fist like if it were a hoof, and Wallflower couldn’t stop herself from laughing like an idiot. She wheezed like a dolphin before calming down a bit and plucking the Honeysuckle from the pot and presenting it to Sunset.
The redhead smelled the flower in her hand before biting into it, and Wallflower could almost hear her purr as she munched on it with a happy face.

Suddenly, Sunset pounced on Wallflower, tackling her to the ground, and started rubbing her head against her neck while definitely purring happily. Her victim laughed, hugging her and joining in the snuggles till her mind cleared once more.

“Uh…. did I go full horse?” Sunset asked, her face turning red as she realized where she ended up.

Wallflower was still laughing. “Yes. You rejected humanity and returned to horse.”

Sunset let out an amused snort at the terrible joke and tried to lift herself up, but Wallflower’s arms suddenly tensed, keeping her in place.

“S-sorry!” the gardener apologized, opening her arms to let her go.

Sunset looked at her, smiled, and layed back on top, getting comfortable before hugging her.
Wallflower froze for a few seconds, and slowly returned the hug, feeling the warmth it brought to her body and heart.

“I know what the flowers mean.”

Wallflower’s eyes widened. “You do?!”

Sunset nodded. “They also have meaning in Equestria.”

“I… I didn’t accidentally propose marriage or something like that. Right?”

Sunset laughed. “No. But growing certain flowers for a loved one is something some couples do for good luck.”

Wallflower smiled, hugging Sunset a little closer. “I do feel lucky.”

Sunset closed her eyes, enjoying the soft embrace. “Me too.”

Author's Notes:

If you're wondering "Where's the kiss? This has to end with them kissing! I want my money back!" the reason is that this is actually the first in a line of stories I have planned in my head, which will explore the relationship of these two from start to undefined finish, from the good times to the tragic, from the sweet to the mature (If I manage to pull it off).

All this will be besides all the other Sunflower stories I've planned (Because I love these two and some people keep giving me ideas with their stories so I'll probably never stop).

I hope you enjoyed, go see the other great works in the contest, love Sunflower and have a nice day.

I'll be watching you.